RFK Must Die: The Assassination of Bobby Kennedy

British documentary filmmaker Shane O'Sullivan wades into Oliver Stone territory with this conspiracy-driven examination of the other Kennedy assassination: the June 5, 1968 murder of Robert F. Kennedy by the 24-year-old Palestinian Sirhan Sirhan. Although Sirhan was the only person who was arrested, tried, and convicted for the crime (and is still serving a life sentence in prison after being denied parole 13 times), RFK Must Die—which takes its title from an entry discovered in Sirhan's diary—contends that others were involved. At the very least, the film insists, there was a second gunman, as the point-blank impact of the fatal shot to Kennedy's head would appear unlikely from Sirhan's positioning a few feet from his target. The film also argues that the forensics work on the crime scene was uncommonly sloppy, with evidence either not collected or lost or destroyed. O'Sullivan also raises the possibility that CIA operatives, still bitter towards Kennedy for his role in the fatally bungled Bay of Pigs invasion, were behind the plot—particularly one David Morales, who was supposedly in the vicinity of Kennedy at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on the night of the assassination. Another theory suggests that Sirhan was brainwashed by the CIA to commit the shooting (Sirhan claimed to have no memory of the murder during police interrogation). Overall, the arguments presented here are not entirely persuasive, and O'Sullivan's style is closer to sensationalism than serious investigative journalism. Conspiracy theorists, of course, will enjoy this speculative documentary, but those who favor facts over hearsay can safely pass. DVD extras include Kennedy campaign ads and audio interviews with Sirhan. Optional. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)